Chapter 99: Love Actually is all around
"I'm going out for a while." Lily was changing into a comfortable tee shirt and shorts. There was some urgent meeting for the teachers and all lessons were cancelled for the afternoon for the older students
"Where are you going??" Joey asked.
"A breath of fresh air, some sunlight, I don't know." Lily left the room to avoid further questions. What's going to happen after I graduate from here?? Petunia isn't going to take me in and I've to depend on myself. Lily was walking rather aimlessly for there were too many thoughts running in her mind. Get a job, yeah, simpler than doing it. Stef still have her father, Sirius, Remus. The guys have one another. Bell still has her orphanage, her home. Me?? I have friends, very great friends indeed. I'm so thankful for them. But friends are friends; they can't be there for you all the time. Stef is lucky to have Remus, Bell and Sirius, an unlikely pair but well, I don't know. This is so confusing!!
Lily walked down the spiral staircase and across the common room. Better start thinking about the future, eight months will come and go before I know it. What is it that I wanted most??
"Hey Lily." James said brightly. Instead of responding to him in her usual cheerfulness, she walked passed him without giving him a look of acknowledgement. Hmm.. what happened to her?? He watched Lily walked out of the common room, not really having any focus. Strange. He shrugged it off and followed his friend out of the common room.
Sigh. I still don't wanna grow up. Lily transfigured a long tree branch into a muggle deckchair. She adjusted the white plastic deckchair to a comfortable level before settling down comfortably under the shade of a big tree. This is just so heavenly. She had purposely chosen a location far from majority of the students so it would be more peaceful. I must really do this once in a while. She closed her eyes and relaxed, the waves from the lake gave a soothing effect to the soul. Don't wanna think of anything, just enjoy the breeze and the shade in this bright sunny afternoon. She emptied her thoughts and loosened up the tenseness. Life's great!!
What's Lily doing?? James was confused. Hmm.. I shall go and accompany her. With that newfound idea, he transfigured another of the same white deckchair with a nearby twig. Pulling the chair so that it stood side by side along with Lily's he laid down beside her.
"What are you doing here??" Lily frowned slightly. There goes my peace and silence.
"Why can't I be here??" James grinned.
"Never mind." Lily tried to ignore James' presence and closed her eyes again.
"Hey, don't sleep."
"I didn't ask you to come here."
"I felt like coming here."
"Yeah right."
"You're right."
"Ssshhh!!" Everytime silence filled the air; James would say something stupid and crappy to get Lily to reply. After an hour or exchange of crappiness, Lily knew the peace that she wanted had long evaporated ever since James came.
"Ok, what do you want??"
"You."
"Very funny."
"It's true."
"Never mind."
"I mind!!"
"Oh god!!"
"Yes Merlin!!"
"Shut up, I beg you!!"
"It's too quiet!!"
"Whatever." Lily said exasperatedly. So much for an escapade to serenity!!
"Don't be like that." James grinned. Looks like she's enjoying my company. "What are you thinking of??"
"Nothing much."
"I called you earlier at the common room and you didn't answer me."
"You did??"
"Yeah, and you walked out like a zombie."
"That bad??"
"Yeah, that's why I followed you."
"Ooh." Lily was not all that keen to be conversing but James was not going to keep his mouth shut for long.
"Can I hug you??" James asked suddenly. She looks so – huggable.
"Huh??" Lily frowned in confusion.
"Just felt like hugging you."
"For what??"
"Don't know. Can I??"
"Nah, don't think so. Don't want people to have the wrong idea." Lily edged further from James.
"Who cares??" James moved closer and he simply grabbed Lily by the waist.
"Let go of me!!" Lily shrieked. James, on the other hand, was enjoying it.
"This looks interesting." Sirius was laughing at something on their map.
"What??" Remus looked up at the amused Sirius with a curious expression.
"Look." Sirius finally moved away from where he was rooted with the map for the last thirty minutes. "Here." Peter left his bed to join the two guys on Remus' bed.
"James and Lily are – together??" Remus raised his brows. The two dots labeled 'James Potter' and 'Lily Evans' were overlapping each other. "Hmm.."
"I've been watching their actions in the last thirty minutes. James followed Lily out to the lake, and just five minutes ago, this two dots overlap each other."
"So it means-" Peter was trying to understand.
"That James and Lily could be kissing away by the lake." Sirius said gleefully.
"Maybe we can check it out to confirm." Remus winked. "Well, the map might be deceiving."
"Get the girls too." Sirius suggested. Without further ado, they left their dormitory and headed over to the girls' dormitory.
"This assignment is getting on my nerves." Samantha whined to no one in particular. The three girls had been doing their homework in silence, with the scratching of quill onto the parchment as the domineering sound.
"Who on earth would like Potions homework??" Stefanie replied. "I mean it's like six parchments on the who, what, why, where, when And how!! It's killer paper."
"Sometimes I wonder if anyone actually set fire to the Potion classrooms." Joey joined in the conversation.
"I think the closest to setting fire would be the Marauders wild attempt to get rid of the dungeons last year." Stefanie recalled. The Marauders had 'accidentally' spilled alcohol onto the flame below their cauldron and set fire in the classroom. Everyone in the class evacuated and never returned to complete the lesson, besides the Slytherins, of course. That earned a month of detentions for the Marauders and made them jumped for joy.
"It's so unfortunate that it didn't succeed. Majority of the students might start worshipping the Marauders even more if they did." Samantha joked.
Knock!! Knock!!
Bam!! Bam!!
"Coming!!" Joey, being the closest to the door, opened it. "Hey guys!!"
"We've got something exciting. You girls wanna come for the show of a lifetime??" Sirius' jovial expression was tempting.
"Sounds good." Stefanie agreed. "What is it about??"
"About our Lily and James." Remus announced.
"LET GO OF ME!!" Lily hissed as she attempted to release herself from James' tight grip.
This is such a wonderful feeling. James leaned his head against the fidgeting Lily's back with his hand firmly holding onto Lily's waist. Apparently Lily shouting was not processed in his mind.
"JAMES POTTER!!" Lily tried to untangle James' intertwined fingers on her waist. "I'M SUFFOCATING!!"
Lily is mine. James held Lily even tighter. Lily was kicking and beating James who was grabbing her from the back.
"Ouch!!" Lily had just elbowed James on his chest; his fingers loosen, but did not let go, much to Lily despair.
"GET OFF ME!!" Lily was now perspiring. The sun was blazing and all the struggling was tiring her out.
I like Lily.. James thought was he pulled Lily closer to him. It seemed like Lily's resistance was as disturbing as the sun. I want to hold her for all my life.
"Fine." Lily finally settled down, panting slightly. James was too strong for her and he was very persistent at not letting her go.
"This is interesting." Sirius whispered. The three guys, along with three girls, were hiding behind some bushes, watching the couple that was hugging on the deckchairs.
"Looks like it's pretty one sided." Stefanie commented, shading her eyes from the sun with her palm.
"James always gets what he wants." Remus told them. "I don't think he will let go of Lily, at least not yet. The six of them were gathered not very far away from Lily and James, but yet not close enough to eavesdrop their conversation.
"Wasted we can't see their expression from here." Samantha said. "Otherwise it will be more interesting than this."
"Yeah, and we film it down and use it as blackmail." Sirius joked.
"Looks like Lily have given up on struggling." Lily stopped her movements and lain limply on the chair with James' hands wrapped around her.
"C'mon, do something." Sirius was encouraging the couple softly. "At least say something."
"I don't think there was much of a verbal exchange." Stefanie commented. "From what I see, James looked like he's in a half-dazed mode."
"Shall be go forward and give them a surprise??" Peter suggested.
"Not so soon. Wait and see what happens first." Remus grinned. The six continued to watch the little movements between the two.
"The sun is scorching and they're still so tranquil." Samantha was fanning herself with a newly transfigured paper fan from a grass blade.
"Love is in the air." Joey suggested as she moved closer to Samantha to enjoy the breeze from the fan.
"What are you guys looking at??" The six jumped at the questioning voice.
"SSSHHHHH!!" Alex and Ted gave them a questioning look.
"Don't talk so loud." Sirius pulled the two boys to his side, whispering to them what was happening.
"Oooh." The two boys seemed to understand a little of what's happening and just watched silently.
"There's no movement or whatsoever." Ted said after several minutes of waiting.
"There hasn't been much motion in the last fifteen minutes." Remus told them softly. The group had expanded and the bush was not much of camouflage.
"Hey!!"
"SSSHHHHH!!" The group shushed at the two approaching girls.
"What's going on??" Kate asked softly.
"We're watching a show." Stefanie grinned and told the two girls briefly what was happening.
"I see." The two girls had a look of comprehension and tried to peek at what was going on.
"Shall we go over or something??" Andromeda asked.
"Wait till they're settled down first." Sirius told them.
"They haven't had much movement for the last ten, or twenty minutes." Stefanie replied. "I supposed that's already consider settled."
"Just a little while more." Remus declared. "There are absolutely no movements now."
"Let go of me!!" Lily said in a half-asleep tone. Shucks!! I'm feeling drowsy and I'm still stuck in this idiot's arm. There was no reply or movement from James' side. "You're not asleep, right??" Lily elbowed James but he still had no respond. This is making me sleepy. Lily could feel that her eyelids were feeling heavier by the second. Before she knew it, she was asleep.
"GOTCHA!!"
"Caught in the act!!"
"HAHAHA!!"
"WOOOAHHH!!"
"James and Lily Potter!!"
"Shit!!" James jumped up, releasing Lily immediately and ran away from the group of students.
"Oh no!!" Lily muttered and covered her reddened face with her hand. I'm going to kill that idiot James Potter!!
"Lily, I didn't know you and James were together." Samantha said in a teasing tone.
"I'm not!!" Lily denied.
"Then why are you two hugging together??" Joey asked.
"I wasn't hugging him!!"
"Then why is he hugging you??" Stefanie grinned.
"I – never mind." Lily supported her head with her palm while her elbows supported by her knees.
"Tell us!!"
"Nothing going on between us!!"
"That's hard to believe considering you two had been hugging for the last hour."
"Drats!! I'm so going to kill that idiot!!"
"He's your – boyfriend."
"No!! No!! He isn't!!"
"What do you call a guy who hug you??"
"Boyfriend!!" Samantha laughed while Lily remained silent, fuming at James.
"I'm getting out of here." Lily shook her head and left her three girlfriends by the lake. This is so humiliating. I'm going to kill James, that idiot, that piece of shit, that crazy guy, that idiotic bastard!! A voice inside her was screaming out loud.
Everyone was looking at Lily as she stormed past the students. It seemed like nearly all of them saw what was happening and giggling among themselves. She chose to ignore all their questions and chuckles and headed straight back to her dormitory. I just want to hide from the world right now!! But after that I'm going to kill that shitty bastard James Potter.
"Why didn't you tell us that you and Lily are together??" Sirius was confronting the red-faced James behind the tree. The guys had no problems catching up with James. By now most of the student population had dispersed after catching Lily and James' rendezvous.
"Well-" James was at a loss of words.
"Well??" Remus penetrating look was questioning.
"So you and Lily are official now??" Peter asked, grinning as silly as Sirius and Remus. Even Ted and Alex were at the confrontation.
"I don't know what Lily thinks though." James admitted.
"So it's one-sided??" Sirius concluded questioningly.
"She definitely isn't looking very happy about this." Remus pointed at the retreating Lily. She was storming off back to the castle. Stefanie, Samantha and Joey went over to join the guys, and the four first years.
"I've never seen Lily as angry as this before." Stefanie told James.
"Now she's really pissed." Joey said.
"You better apologize or something." Samantha advised.
"You've got her into this mess." Sirius was pointing his finger at James.
"I'll settle it." James said confidently. And make her mine. He left his friends standing under the tree and returned to the castle alone. Ok, so now what??
"Disgusting!!" Lily scolded herself. She was having an exfoliating scrub shower in the bathroom. Everything had happened so fast and her mind was in a mess. "Idiot!! Idiot!! Idiot!!" She applied the body scrub in a circular motion as the water rained over her body. How could I let that jerk touch me in the first place?? She was still mad, very mad at James for his brainless actions. Wait till I kill him. Lily was having murderous thoughts on revenge to get back at James. "Jerk!! Bastard!! Idiot!!"
"So what am I supposed to do??" James asked his reflection in the mirror. It was a sweet feeling. He smiled at the thought of hugging Lily, having her close to him. Apologize?? "Lily, I'm sorry about what happened." James talked to his reflection. "Nah, this won't do." He washed his face with some tap water and looked at himself again. "Lils, I just want to apologize. Please forgive me." He shook his head. "Too corny." I'm getting crazy. Talking to my reflection. Totally ridiculous. James dried his hair and body and put on his clothes, feeling much more refreshed than before.
"I'm going to kill James Potter." Lily muttered to no one. She was hiding in the bed under the comforters, curtains drawn. "Landed me in this mess." She was imagining the talk of dinner that evening was all about the 'secret rendezvous' of the Head Girl and Boy by the lake. "I'm going nuts." She closed her eyes, trying to catch some sleep, hoping that what had happened was nothing but a nightmare. I hate James.. I hate James.. I hate James.. I hate.. The next moment, she was sound asleep.